A switched power converter, notably a step-down converter, comprises one or more transistors, which are turned on and off in a repeated manner. In particular, a switched power converter may comprise a high side transistor and a low side transistor, which are turned on and off in an alternating manner. A dead time may be added between turn-off of the high side transistor and turn-on of the low side transistor (and vice versa), in order to avoid a shoot through current from the supply potential of the power converter to ground.
A transistor, notably a MOS (metal-oxide-semiconductor) transistor, typically comprises a body-diode which may be activated during the dead time, thereby leading to increased losses. These losses typically increase with increasing switching frequency of the transistor and/or with increasing cycle rate of a switched power converter.
The present document addresses the technical problem of reducing the (switching) losses of a transistor. This technical problem is solved by the independent claims. Preferred examples are described in the dependent claims.